Educational Pictures

Educational Pictures (or Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America) was an American film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882–1962). Educational primarily distributed short subjects, and today is probably best known for its series of 1930s comedies starring Buster Keaton, as well as for a series of one-reel comedies featuring the earliest screen appearances of Shirley Temple. The studio also distributed short comedies starring Lloyd Hamilton, who employed the blacklisted Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle as a writer-director under the pseudonym William Goodrich.

Earle Hammons originally established the company to make instructional films for schools, but making comedies for theatrical release proved more lucrative. Educational did indeed issue many educational, travelogue, and novelty shorts, but its main enterprise was comedy. Educational's heyday was the 1920s, when the popular silent comedies of Al St. John, Lupino Lane, Lige Conley, Lloyd Hamilton, and Monty Collins complemented many a moviehouse bill as "the spice of the program." Educational also released silent cartoons including the Felix the Cat series. In 1930, cartoonist Paul Terry signed with Educational to distribute his Terrytoons animated cartoons in America and British countries.

Educational made a smooth transition to sound movies by handling the early talking comedies of pioneer producer Mack Sennett. Sennett also introduced singing star Bing Crosby to movie audiences. But Sennett soon became plagued by financial problems, and he left Educational in 1932. Most of Educational's silent stars made only a few talkies for the studio: Lupino Lane left the company in 1930, followed by Lloyd Hamilton in 1931. Most of the earliest Educational talkies feature silent-comedy veterans with stage experience: Vernon Dent, Harry Gribbon, Raymond McKee, Edward Everett Horton, Daphne Pollard, and Ford Sterling. Educational's most prolific comedian in the 1930s was undoubtedly the Sennett star Andy Clyde, who made 54 comedies.

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